


parallels

by bonrin



Series: honey, you're familiar [1]
Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Character Study, Confessions, Fujoshis Don't Touch, M/M, Meta, Metafiction, Relationship Study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-24 20:12:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17710781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonrin/pseuds/bonrin
Summary: Suguro "Bon" Ryuuji and Okumura Rin have so much to them as people.The way their relationship connects is amazing.Or, how Rin and Ryuuji realize they fall in love and how they feel about it.





	parallels

**Author's Note:**

> [COIN - I Would](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITaOWPFRyMg)   
> 

There’s a lot to Suguro Ryuuji as a person. Rin doesn’t know how he’s so fascinated by it.

It was amusing how he came into his life as a classmate who looked like he was going to be a punk asshole (which would  _ not _ be very punk, if he says so himself) and turned out to be one of the nicest people he knew, probably third on his mental list right after Shiemi and Konekomaru.

(Maybe he was actually first on that list.)

It was really unlike his intimidating appearance. From what Rin could tell, Suguro really liked taking care of people, despite denying it and just saying he’s doing the bare minimum, and covering it up with angriness. It showed even more when Lewin came into their lives, that man couldn’t even take a bath without being told to. Suguro was good at taking care of himself, too, and hated accepting help from other people.

But despite it and  _ yet _ still because of it, he keeps to himself often, too. Rin couldn’t tell how much he bottled up and it didn’t seem like much when it ended up exploding like Mentos dropped into a soda bottle, but it bothered him. Especially because Suguro hated it when  _ other _ people bottled things up, too.

It was pretty ironic.

Kyoto was an interesting experience. A piece of life that let them discover many things. Rin and Suguro were connected, in a way, since practically _ birth _ and didn’t even know it until fifteen years later.

Rin misunderstood it. The entire time he’d thought Suguro hated him because he was the bastard offspring of Satan himself, who was the demon who destroyed Suguro’s temple, so basically his life.

But it wasn’t, it was because he’d been bottling it up and Suguro seemed to be bothered by it. It made Rin remember what Suguro said to him before, during the camping trip.

_ “You’ve got friends, remember that.” _

Rin wondered why it was that and not the fact that his own biological demon father, ruler of Gehenna, ruined his life.

They’d had another fight, when Suguro was angry at his dad; he had been for a while. Rin thought of Shiro,  _ his own dad, _ his real dad. How he’d yelled at him when he told him he was the son of Satan, saying that he wasn’t his real dad and he just had an excuse to get rid of him now, and then Satan possessed his body trying to claim Rin and take him to Gehenna and right before dying Shiro said  _ he’s my son. _ So Rin yelled at Suguro to make up with his dad before he regrets it.

Defeating the Impure King was an interesting experience. Rin tried keeping his cool, saying to Suguro  _ I’m countin’ on you, babe, _ like it was second nature when he was telling him to start chanting to keep the barrier up and Suguro responded he doesn’t need Rin telling him what to do. He was rambling on and on about wanting to go to Kyoto Tower when Suguro was having a hard time with the barrier to hype him up and then Suguro said  _ fine, I’ll put up with that false bravado of yours, since we’re friends and all. _ And hearing him say  _ I’ll trust you _ made his adrenaline go up higher, then he began to think to himself of Shiro and wondering why he was saved, and then he finally unsheathed the sword and defeated the Impure King.

They did end up going to Kyoto Tower, after all. Rin’d never been.

The Cultural Festival happened, and Rin was full of mixed feelings involving Shiemi. He was so distracted by it that it was almost a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it situation when Suguro said he didn’t have the time for romance.

He didn’t know why, but it made him ache, somehow.

Then all of a sudden Shima was a  _ spy _ in the  _ Illuminati _ and everyone’s worlds turned upside down.

Izumo’s life was dragged around by the Illuminati like a child dragging around their favorite blanket across the floor, not wanting to let go. They had to fight for her.  _ Don’t die, Izumo,  _ was practically everyone’s collective thought.

Rin put on a pink wig and told himself  _ this is for the best. _ But Suguro kept on moping and Shima just came  _ back _ and pretended like it was fine, everything was fine,  _ right guys? _

Suguro continued on giving mixed signals. He either cared or he didn’t.

Then Lewin Light himself came into their lives. Suguro began to have a crisis about his ambition to becoming an Exorcist, he was the type of person to have  _ reason _ for doing such big things, he’d said to Lightning that  _ ambition is necessary, it becomes the power that pushes one forward. _ But even though he still  _ wanted _ to be an Exorcist, his dream, his meaning, his  _ ambition _ of defeating Satan to bring his family and temple back together was taking too long to get done and it wouldn’t be possible anymore to even bring them back together now that everyone was walking off their own paths.

So, on impulse during his crisis ramble that happened while he and Rin were supposed to be cleaning up for Lightning, he’d bowed down to the floor and asked to be his disciple. He didn’t understand why, but he wanted to learn from him.

And all of a sudden Suguro said he fell for Lightning. Yet he didn’t give him the Koumaken when he had the chance to. Then he cut his hair off and became completely occupied by this whole  _ thing. _

Then Rin asked Shiemi out and discovered that she wasn’t in love with either Rin or Yukio, saying that she was too young for love, and he ached again.

So. There really was a lot to Suguro as a person. A lot happened during the time Rin had known him and he’d found all the major things interesting.

But he found the smaller things interesting, too.

Ever since he met Suguro, he wondered what all the piercings meant; especially the one gauge he’d gotten recently― _and he wasn’t going to assume anything, but he was going to assume something_ ― since the earring he’d been wearing there resembled Rin’s _tail._

He also wondered what it meant to Suguro when he dyed his hair, and what it meant to him when he cut it off. A lot? A little? Was it extremely complicated or not at all? What was up with him having an intimidating appearance, yet his personality being the complete opposite of it?

He wondered about things he did like his hobbies and his habits ― why did he wake up to go for a run at 5:30am? Why was he such a neat freak? How was he so good at memorizing things? How much did zen meditation mean to him? Was there a reason he got chronic migraines or was it just genetics?

Rin thinks about Suguro a lot. Then he realized, maybe he thinks about Suguro a lot more than anyone else, more than he usually would. It used to be brief, usually when he was simply brought up; but now he thought about him all the time and it made his stomach churn and his chest feel light. He didn’t know what it was.

So, somehow he was surprised when he realized he was in love with Suguro and not Shiemi.

He remembered the Cultural Festival, how Suguro turned down the girl asking him to the dance, saying that he didn’t have time for romance.

He realized why he really ached, now.

 

* * *

 

There was so much to Okumura Rin as a person, and Ryuuji found it interesting.

Since he’d met him, he seemed like an absolute dumbass. He still was, he was just… a friendlier dumbass. 

In the beginning Okumura would just go on and fight by himself and Ryuuji  _ hated _ it. He would tell himself that it’s because he wanted to fight, too. He was going to become an Exorcist, he had to learn how to fight and Okumura wouldn’t let him since he kept going off and doing it by himself.

It was like that for a while and suddenly Okumura was the son of Satan; the demon that destroyed his family’s temple’s legacy; the demon that him defeating to bring it back was his  _ ambition. _

He was mad about that specific thing at first. Then he thought about all the times Okumura would just go on  _ by himself _ towards the tightrope that divided life and death and just stood in the middle of it, balancing, almost falling to the death side.

So maybe he was mad because he wanted Okumura to be safe.

He didn’t say anything. Not even during their second argument involving his own dad, Okumura yelling at him to make up with him before he regrets it, sounding like there was more than just a  _ you need to get along with your family _ to his words, and yelled  _ it ain’t like I wanna be Satan’s son. _

Then it was discovered that Mamushi was the traitor in all this, and the Impure King went wild and they had to go defeat it.  _ That _ was when he told Okumura that he wasn’t angry at him for being the son of Satan, he was mad at him for weighting it on himself and not telling anybody like a liability that was supposed to be just for himself despite it being so big.

In the middle of the battlefield about to defeat the Impure King, Okumura told Ryuuji that he should keep the barrier up so they could go to Kyoto Tower tomorrow since he’d always wanted to go and  _ it would really suck if not everyone could make it. _

So Ryuuji said  _ fine. _ He tried his best to keep the barrier up despite thinking  _ I’m gonna die _ the whole time and told Okumura  _ I’ll put up with that false bravado of yours. Since we’re friends and all, _ and after saying  _ I’ll trust you, _ he was finally able to unsheathe the sword and defeat the Impure King.

They did end up going to Kyoto Tower, after all. Ryuuji’d never been.

Then a while later they went back to school and Ryuuji was asked out by a girl to the Cultural Festival dance and when he declined her she’d started crying, and it shocked him.

Moriyama became a part of the grade, so Okumura tried asking her out to the dance and it didn’t really work. They danced together, anyway. Ryuuji was a part of the staff.

Suddenly Shima, Ryuuji’s childhood friend who was like  _ family _ to him, was a spy in the goddamn Illuminati. Kamiki almost died because of it.

Okumura walked into class with a pink wig on pretending to be Shima to try to cheer everyone up. Ryuuji wasn’t surprised. It was so  _ like him _ to. 

Then Shima was back and Ryuuji was full of mixed feelings.

But then Lewin Light came in to start teaching Kirigakure-sensei’s classes and Ryuuji saw how much of a powerful Aria he was. He thought about his ambition and how it was taking too long, and Lightning laughed at him because he didn’t have an ambition himself, and Ryuuji didn’t know why, but he wanted to learn from him.

He said no, and then the next time he wanted the Koumaken, and Ryuuji wasn’t going to do that to Okumura.

He let him be his disciple anyway.

Ryuuji began to get caught up with it. He cut his hair off which was almost on impulse due to being Lightning’s disciple and wanting to impress him and be respectful, but hey, an undercut still looked punk, didn’t it?

The way Okumura and Ryuuji connected was interesting.

He found the other things about Okumura interesting, too, though.

How’d he learn to cook like a god? Why was he so spacey? Why did he sleep so much? What was it like to have a tail? What was it like being a half-demon, anyway? What were all his exact feelings on being the son of Satan himself, execution impending onto you, not knowing if you’ll even live a full day today? How was he so calm about it? Why was he so… nice?

Why did Ryuuji feel so  _ right _ around him?

Ryuuji found himself getting distracted by him.

And  _ god, _ despite the fact that he was smart, Ryuuji didn’t realize he was in love. On how long he had been, he wasn’t sure, but it made sense now.

He was angry, though. Just not at Okumura, but himself. 

He had an  _ ambition _ ― he didn’t have the  _ time _ for romance― he was supposed to be becoming an Exorcist, so why was he falling in love  _ now? _

Maybe it was because even though the one he was fighting for was all the way in Kyoto, Rin felt like home.

 

* * *

 

They’d been cleaning up for Lightning again while he was out somewhere when Rin was the one to bring it up first.

“Why do you say you don’t have time for romance?”

It almost sounded hesitant, and Ryuuji was almost hesitant to reply, too. He stood across the room, looking at some books on a shelf, trying to organize them since Lightning had gone through them again and didn’t put them back.

He grabbed a thin paperback book. “I have a motive. I’m trying to get it done and it would distract me,” he said and flipped through it before he put it in between a couple of others so they’d be in alphabetical order.

“You’re… a teenager though. We all are. Remember what Shima and I were talking about before the festival? How you should enjoy your youth before you regret it?” Rin asked, body facing opposite of Ryuuji but turning his head to look at him, not really working on the task at hand that he was supposed to be doing.

“Yeah, I know, it’s just, I’m―” he let out a quick sigh before grabbing another book, a thicker one this time. “―I’m working hard. I honestly might not be completely sure about my ambition anymore but that’s why I wanted to become Lightning’s disciple.”

Rin pursed his lips and let out a sigh too. He opened his mouth to speak and only made a small noise full of more hesitation before closing his mouth again, and his hands clammed up.

“I like you, you know.”

That almost made Ryuuji turn to look at Rin. Almost.

He wanted to but he couldn’t bring himself to.

“I like you too,” Ryuuji said and opened the book he was holding to a random page and forced himself to look at it, and he couldn’t tell if it was the current environment in the air or what, but the book started feeling heavier in his hands and he trembled a little, his face feeling warm. “I just― don’t think I’m ready or know what to do about it besides tell you right now.”

“That’s fine,” Rin said, his heart fluttering. He was turned around to fully face Ryuuji now. “I just wanna let you know that if you’re ever ready I’ll still be here. I’m not gonna ask you to go out with me, but I’ll still be here if you ever want to. Nothing has to change between us right now if you don’t want it to.”

Ryuuji was finally able to make himself put the book down where it belonged and turn his head to look at Rin.

“Okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> this isnt as long as i wanted it to be bc i dumped all my thoughts out quicker than i thought i would but anyway. this was supposed to be a meta on bon as a character but it turned into a bonrin metafiction bc thats how i am.  
> ive-got-one-job-on-this-lousy-ship.gif
> 
> my tumblr is [sugurobonryuuji](https://sugurobonryuuji.tumblr.com/)!


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